Diesel Plunges 13.8¢ to Four-Year Low $3.281
The price of diesel plunged 13.8 cents to $3.281 a gallon, the lowest level in four years, the Department of Energy reported Dec. 22.
The drop in the national average retail price was the biggest in more than six years, when diesel fell 14.5 cents on Nov. 24, 2008.
Gasoline, meanwhile, fell 15.1 cents to a 5½-year low $2.403, DOE said following its weekly surveys of filling stations.
That was the lowest price since May 18, 2009, and the biggest single-week decline since the motor fuel fell 18 cents on Nov. 24, 2008.
Diesel’s price was the lowest since it was $3.248 on Dec. 20, 2010, according to DOE records.
Trucking’s main fuel has plummeted 74 cents since March, when it peaked at $4.021, and gas is down $1.31 since topping out at $3.713 per gallon in April.
The downturns left diesel 59.2 cents below the corresponding week a year ago, while gas is 86.8 cents less than a year ago.
Oil, meanwhile, fell almost $2 on Dec. 22 to finish New York Mercantile Exchange trading at $55.26 a barrel, which was not much higher than the 5½-year low $54.11 that crude futures closed at on Dec. 18.
Each week, DOE surveys about 400 diesel filling stations and 800 gasoline stations to compile national average prices.
